In Theravada Buddhism, a method of insight meditation.
It aims at developing understanding of the nature of reality by focusing a sharply concentrated mind on physical and mental processes. The meditator comes to understand, through personal experience, the truths of dukkha (suffering), anicca (impermanence), and anatta (lack of an enduring self). It is a process of mental purification that leads to abandonment of the roots of unwholesome actions, eradication of ignorance, and attainment of nirvana .